Loved this one. LOVED it. I recognized the author’s style from a book I read as a child (A Friend Is Someone Who Likes You) so that certainly helped me be predisposed to enjoy it. But the storyline was delightful, and the illustrations are charming. I loved how she story is presented – the illustrations are quite clever. My son enjoyed it quite a bit, although my daughter didn’t seem to care about it. Even with that, it’s still highly recommended.

I found this on a list of picture books you should read to your children. And then on another list of recommended titles. And I finally requested it from the library, and why oh why did I wait so long? It really is silly, but in such a fun way. My kids both really enjoyed it too. Great illustrations, great language that’s enjoyable to read – it’s a winner. Highly recommended as well.

I’m casually working my way through Bill Peet’s books, and this is what the library had available next. It’s ok, but there is a section that is so obnoxiously dated that it’s going back after only two readings. If my son hadn’t found it where I’d stashed it, it’d have only had one reading. 😉

I mentioned this in my post on the adult nonfiction title The Lady and the Panda, and I was pleasantly surprised at this kids’ version of her story. Obviously as it’s targeted at children it doesn’t have the depth (or the not-so-savory elements) as the other book, but it’s a cute book. Recommended if your library has a copy of it, but I wouldn’t go out of your way to buy it.

My daughter’s picks, and I was underwhelmed. I like the idea behind these books, but the execution didn’t fully work for me. I thought Isabella was fairly obnoxious, and the concept are a bit beyond the age range that the illustrations and limited, repetitive text seems to target. These are hugely popular, so obviously they work for some people, but they were misses for me. They didn’t even keep my kids attention, and my daughter never asked to reread either one. Not recommended.

My son is really interested in learning Spanish right now, so I grabbed this as it’s a bilingual text. He wasn’t interested in it at all though, and I’m not sure if it was the overall idea of it, or just this specific book. I’ll try again with another book later.

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